


Praedae Estis? Minime, Venatores Sumus.

by Hotspur



Series: Shingeki no Caesar [1]
Category: Classical Greece and Rome History & Literature RPF, Julius Caesar - Shakespeare, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, I WASTED A DAY AND SKIPPED PHYSICS HOMEWORK ON THIS, NINE PAGES, SNK AU, SNKspeare, i had to hurt my precious babies, i have lost control of my life, lots of injury, this ended up very portus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-06 20:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1870752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hotspur/pseuds/Hotspur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On that day, humanity was reminded what it was like living in a cage. Except three soldiers refused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Praedae Estis? Minime, Venatores Sumus.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea where this came from but an Attack on Titan/Julius Caesar crossover seemed cool. Enjoy this proof I have lost control of my life. Thanks to Lily for the nicknames Porklet and Brute.
> 
> -Edit- I've just made a few changes, nothing major. Also, the appearances of Brutus and Cassius are from HBO Rome (except Cassius is younger in this than in Rome).

The blood was pounding in Brutus’s ears as he landed on the roof of one of the buildings in the doomed town. Up ahead there was a 10-meter titan, which was about to go down, if he had any say in it. Brutus was one of the best pure fighters in the legion. What he lacked in intelligence he made up for in bravery and what some would call plain recklessness. 

“Didn’t think you were taking that thing on by yourself, didja?” Cassius shouted, swinging up towards Brutus and landing next to him.

“Piss off, Cass. I got it,” Brutus called as he launched the grips of his 3D maneuvering device at a nearby wall. He swung across the street, Cassius following him. The titan loomed ahead, but it was distracted. By the screams, Brutus could tell it had found some prey. It had just slowly stooped down to get its meal when Brutus landed on its hot shoulders. In a blur (it was always a blur- Brutus was a slow thinker and it took too long for him to process what was going on) he slashed a wedge out of the nape of its neck, and the creature fell. Blood spattered everywhere, raining down on Brutus. 

Cassius had just brought down a 4-meter, one that Brutus hadn’t seen. How could he have been so stupid to miss a bloody giant? Cassius was covered in blood by the time he swung back over to the roof Brutus had landed on. The two soldiers surveyed the damage. The titans had broken through Wall Maria, the outermost wall, three years ago, starting in the Shiganshina district. Now the area between Maria and Rose was no longer safe. That’s where Brutus and Cassius had grown up, and it was more than a little upsetting to realize that they probably could never go back.

“10-meter behind you!” Brutus and Cassius heard Portia’s voice from behind them. They swung around, Brutus following Cassius to their prey. Portia had lead the dim thing to them, and soon the two brought it down, Cassius, the more clever, distracting it and Brutus methodically slicing open its neck, severing the nerves and spinal column. As the blades of his swords slashed into the one vulnerable part of the beast, a jet of steam came from the wound, scalding Brutus’s face. Temporarily blinded, he swung away from the falling Titan, relieved when his feet met solid roofing tiles.

“You guys okay?” Portia asked, as Cassius joined them on the roof. All three soldiers were covered in blood from their kills and their own injuries.

“I’m fine,” Cassius said with a twisted grin. “Three kills today!”

“Just the two,” Brutus replied. “I’m okay too though.”

“It looks like this is the end,” Portia said. “It’s strange, not many came through here.” She surveyed the town from her vantage point. It vaguely registered in Brutus’s mind that they were standing on the roof of an ancient church, one of the vestiges of the old days, long before mankind lost its faith in the God (and gods) of old and had to place its trust in the walls that all too easily were torn down by the very things they were supposed to stop.

“We really ought to focus on getting the civilians out of here before more people die,” Brutus said after a moment’s thought. “If we protect this town, we might be able to get them out.”

“You know what happened at Shigasnhina,” Cassius replied. “We’re almost as unprepared as they were. And what if the Colossal Titan appears again?”

“You know anything about that?” Portia asked. She was checking her device’s gas canister. Running out of gas would mean death. 

“No, never encountered anything like that,” Cassius said. His face was twisted into a grimace. Life had always been dangerous for him. When they’d entered the army three years before, they had made a pact that they would stay together however possible. Now their pact had changed with the renewal of the war against the titans. They swore that they would stay together if they survived. If one died, the other two would take care of each other.

“Come on,” she said, snapping Brutus out of his thoughts. “We get back to base and tell them what we’ve got.” She looked over at the hole in the town wall, where the villagers were desperately trying to close up the opening and prevent more titans from coming in. “I wonder if Captain Casca can spare some engineers for them.” She saluted her comrades and shot off down the street now littered with debris and the odd body.

Down below them Brutus could hear weeping as the villagers set about clearing up their dead.

“Heh. I see why you’re into her,” Cassius said. He took off in the direction Portia had taken. Brutus wiped the blood off his face and launched his gear after Cassius.

Portia was the second-highest graduate in their class three years ago. Being in the top ten, she qualified for the military police, the safest and best position in the army. The MPs, with their unicorn insignia, had the responsibility of protecting the king. It was a cushy job with much power over all other military divisions. Brutus had graduated much lower than she, and was given the choice of garrison or scout. He’d chosen garrison, and Cassius, who had done almost as well as Portia, had surprisingly chosen scout.

That was because Cassius wanted to kill every damn titan he could.

Brutus had accidentally fallen in love with Portia while he was stuck in the harness during 3D gear practice. She’d helped him out and after that, he’d stuck close to her all through their training. When it came time to decide what branch to join, Brutus had taken garrison, and Portia had taken it too. He’d asked her why after the ceremony, and she’d just said “I don’t want to leave you, you big Brute.” She’d taken his hands and pecked his lips and that’s when it hit him that the feeling was mutual.

Not that there was much time for that now that the war was on.

“13-meter up ahead!” Brutus heard Cassius scream. Cassius pealed off diagonally to take on the titan that was closing in on them. Cassius had joined the scout legion, and he was far more the fighter. He’d been called inside the wall after Maria fell. Brutus was happy to have an expert titan killer on their team. And an old friend.

“Right behind you!” Cinna, another of their legion shouted. He swung up over Brutus, then down to strike at the titan’s Achilles tendon, one of its few vulnerable parts. The titan faltered, and in that moment Cassius and Portia both swung in to bring the titan down.

There was a piercing scream as the titan swung its pathetic, out of proportion arm, smacking a soldier away and into a roof. The unfortunate soul slid down, their straps and gear cords wrapping around their legs. 

“Portia!” Brutus head Cassius scream. Cassius shot across the sky and towards the roof where Portia lay in a heap. Brutus had no time to cry or worry, it would take too much of his brain. He followed Cinna and launched onto the titan’s back, the bolts of the 3D device gear digging into the boiling flesh. Brutus could feel the heat radiating off the monster as he slashed his blades downward into the neck. He could envision the spinal cord being severed, all mobility and control lost.

That’s for killing Portia, you bastard.

The titan collapsed, bringing Brutus down with it.

“Brutus! Up!” Cinna yelled from somewhere above him. Brutus launched up just before he would have been crushed by the titan.

\------------

Cassius landed on the roof and started running towards the Portia, his boots clacking on the tiles. He stopped with a near-skid and knelt next to her. 

“Portia, come on, Porklet.” He gathered her up in his arms, searching desperately for a pulse. He found one, and more than that, he heard ragged breathing. She was alive, and that was good enough for him. He cut the cords away and her gear, smashed from the impact anyway, skid off the roof. Cassius had never attempted to save a comrade. All scouts knew that stopping to save one person endangered everyone else but he couldn’t just leave her. He strapped her to himself and, making sure she wasn’t in danger of being dropped, Cassius took off towards the center of town, where the legion had set up headquarters. He just hoped that Brutus and Cinna could hold back the two titans that were left.

\------------

“God damn you!” Brutus screamed, swinging down past a 10-meter titan, slashing its tendons as he went. Cinna took care of the neck and the titan fell. The titans, when they died, would be reduced to a pile of steaming bones. Probably the most frustrating thing for Brutus was that they knew so little about their adversaries- where they came from, what they were made of, how they reproduced, why they ate humans. Why did they have it out for humanity, why did they kill his friends? Brutus now wanted to kill every single one he saw. Not just because it was his duty to protect humanity, but he wanted revenge against the creatures that were ruining his life.

“Brutus! Watch out!” Cinna screamed. The last titan, a 7-meter, had just noticed them, and seemed to want a snack. Cinna was nearly out of the way when his gas canister ran out. He plummeted nearly ten meters to the street below, catching a building’s awning at the last minute. Brutus swung up and slashed the titan’s neck and it collapsed. Brutus landed on the ground and sheathed his blades. He was down to only the two he had just used, and he was fairly certain he was soon going to be out of gas. 

“Come on, Cinna. That’s the last of them.” Brutus turned and began walking through the debris toward the headquarters the legion had established in an old warehouse in the center of town.

Cinna jumped down from the awning and followed him. “Thanks,” he said, catching up with Brutus, who just stared ahead. “Sorry about your girlfriend.”

Brutus didn’t say anything.

“What happened to Cassius?” Cinna asked.

“I don’t know,” Brutus finally answered.

\------------

Cassius dragged Portia into the warehouse. “Medic!” he yelled. Once he’d landed he’d unstrapped her but he was faltering under her weight. Titinius and Messala, two of the garrison medical division, rushed to him.

“God, Cassius, how’d you get her here?” Messala asked. 

“Strapped her on me. Doesn’t matter, get her to a bed!” Cassius helped Messala lay Portia down on a cot, while Titinius hurriedly gathered bandages and other medical supplies. 

“We haven’t had any survivors in yet,” Messala said as he cut Portia out of her harness. “Anyone else injured?”

“Pompey’s dead,” Cassius replied. “He was bit in half by a 10-meter. I don’t know what’s happened to Brutus and Cinna.”

“God have mercy on their souls,” Titinius said. “The titans sure won’t.”

Cassius looked down at Portia. Her leg was twisted in the wrong direction and was cut up, most likely by the tiles she’d skidded down. The bone was exposed and her uniform was soaked with blood. It was horrible, but at least she was alive. Messala cut away the now-ragged remains of her trousers and set about cleaning the wounds. Portia, semiconscious, moaned in pain. Cassius put his hand on her forehead. “It’s gonna be okay, Porklet,” he whispered.

“Titinius! Get me some morphine!” Messala barked. He turned to Cassius. “We’re gonna try to set her leg and stop the bleeding. She might not live, though.” The will to keep Portia alive was obvious, though. Morphine was such a rare commodity and sparingly used.

“Do whatever it takes!” Cassius replied.

“Go wait for Brutus and Cinna,” Titinius said. “There’s nothing you can do. Also, where the hell are Strato and Pindarus?” 

“I haven’t seen them since we set out,” Cassius said, walking out of the medical ward. “I’ll find them though.” His heart was heavier than it had ever been. 

\------------

It was a lot farther back to headquarters on foot than it was by 3D gear, Brutus realized. He didn’t like how long it was taking because the hike through the wrecked town was forcing him to think- he’d killed four titans in one day. Usually that would be impressive, but not today, not at this cost. Portia was dead and Cassius was nowhere to be seen. He’d witnessed Pompey’s brutal death, and Strato and Pindarus, two just-graduated cadets had probably scattered or were dead. He was now stuck with Cinna, who kept rambling. 

“That way’s east, right?” Cinna asked, gesturing past the old church. Was it really just really just earlier today that he’d stood on the roof, talking to Cassius and Portia? 

“No, that’s west. The sun is setting there, idiot,” Brutus grumbled.

“Okay, so that way’s east,” Cinna said, turning.

“Why does it matter?” Brutus snapped. Cinna was a decent enough guy, but could he ever be annoying. Especially since all Brutus could do was brood.

 

\-----------

After what seemed an eternity, Brutus and Cinna reached headquarters and stumbled in, bloody and broken. They’d found Strato and Pindarus, who had run out of fuel. Brutus had wanted to scream at them and berate them for failing, running out of what would keep them alive. Fools. They’d never make it, not like that. He hadn’t had the energy, so he instead would leave it up to Commander Casca to deal with their unpreparedness. Now they were back, all the titans from the day’s fight were now steaming piles of bones in the street.

“Brutus! Cinna!” Cassius was running towards them, still covered in blood. “Good, you found them!”

Pindarus and Strato were hanging back behind Cinna. They had spent the entire trek back apologizing for their poor performance and begging Brutus to forgive them. 

“Brutus, you need to come quick,” Cassius said. “Titinius and Messala said you should come to medical.”

Brutus suppressed a shudder. “Why?” he asked. “I’m not hurt all that bad.”

“Not you, you moron,” Cassius said. He grabbed Brutus’s hand and dragged him to the medics. He lead him to the bed where Portia lay.

“Oh my God,” Brutus cried. He ran up to her and knelt beside the bed. 

“I brought her in,” Cassius said. “She’s still alive, just barely.”

Brutus looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Is she going to survive?”

Cassius hung his head. He had to tell Brutus the truth. “Messala doesn’t think so,” he said. “She’s lost a lot of blood and is unconscious now. They did try to fix her leg but she isn’t waking up.”

Brutus dropped his head on her chest, tears coming to his eyes. Not his brave, precious Portia. He just wanted to tell her again that he loved her, that she’d probably saved them, that if they survived he had wanted to marry her. All he could do was cry, lying over her broken form. He couldn’t bear to look at her mangled leg, it was too horrific even for him. Part had been completely skinned, the bone showing and a gash sewed up with surgical thread. Even if by some miracle she survived, she would never walk again.

“I just wanna hear you call me a big Brute again,” Brutus mumbled into her chest. His hot tears were spattering on her khaki uniform jacket. He kept crying until he lost track of time. He vaguely heard the sounds of other people being brought in for medical treatment, some civilians and some other soldiers from other squads. Of the seven soldiers that had been there to fight in that section of the town, Squad Casca, one had been killed and another was dying. Brutus wasn’t sure if he’d want to make it after this.

Brutus finally came to his senses, wondering where Cassius was. He was probably off in the mess, taking leave of his sobriety. Cassius had looked as shaken as Brutus had felt, which was strange. Cassius’s great skill in fighting was he never overthought things, he never regretted his actions, and he never felt sorry for anyone. Maybe his heart of stone was really one of glass.

Brutus’s breaths had become ragged, he was out of tears but could not stop sobbing. He was holding one of Portia’s hands. Her pulse was rapid, which Brutus partly remembered had something to do with blood pressure and where the main trauma was. He couldn’t remember what. It didn’t matter now.

“I love you,” he mumbled. “I may be a stupid Brute but at least I was yours.” He shut his eyes again and could almost feel her fingers in his hair, twisting the waves like she sometimes did when they were bored on the wall. He wanted to go back to that more than anything. Had that really been this morning, when they had left the barracks laughing and ready for another day of waiting for the apocalypse. 

It slowly dawned on Brutus that he wasn’t imagining things- he reached up and felt the hand in his hair, then looked down at Portia, who was just opening her eyes.

“Get off me, Brute!” she coughed. “I can’t breathe.”

Brutus did the opposite, scooping her up in a hug.

“Thank God,” he whispered, the tears starting again. “Thank God and Cassie.”

 

\------------

“There you are!” Cassius climbed up to the wall’s parapet, where Brutus and Portia were sitting, wrapped up in Portia’s garrison cloak. “Looking all over for you.”

“We’re usually here,” Brutus replied. “Kind of our job.”

“Yeah, but you’re not on duty,” Cassius said.

“Can’t we enjoy the view, Sassius?” Portia asked.

“Whatever you say, Porklet.” He sat down next to her and offered her some bread from the bundle he was carrying. “I take it you’re not going to be fighting any more?”

Portia stared off into the sky. The sun was giving up on the day, turning the clouds purple, pink, gold. “Yeah, they say I’m too handicapped to be any good in a 3D device.”

“It’s been what, two months?” Cassius asked.

“Doesn’t mean I’m back to normal,” Portia replied. “Fortunately, I have someone to help me when I fall.” Brutus rested his head on her shoulder. 

“Oh, that reminds me,” Cassius said, offering some bread to Brutus, who didn’t want any. “I asked for a transfer, and Captain Casca’s letting me join the garrison.”

“But you’re a scout!” Brutus said, suddenly paying full attention.

“And you losers need another man on the job with you,” Cassius replied. “I’m making good on my pledge to stay with you guys. It was more fun killing titans with you anyway.”

Portia laughed. “I was offered a new position,” she said. “Since I can’t fight anymore, they want me to put all I know about titans to work. There’s a researcher named Hange Zoë, with the scouts, who is doing the same thing. It will keep me out of harm’s way at least. I can still plan battles, that’s what I seem best at.”

“You’re the reason we’ve won what we have,” Brutus said quietly. 

“So you’ll be staying behind while we have all the fun?” Cassius replied. 

“Eh, you can have the glory,” Portia said. “Plus,” her face brightened, “you have something to come back to!”

“That reminds me,” Cassius said, opening his bundle further. “Titinius told me about what our ancestors did for their heroes, for the ones who really were great. They gave them a crown, but not one out of gold or anything. Just leaves.” He scooted away from Portia, then gently put a laurel crown on her forehead. “You deserve it, Porklet. Bravest of us all. Wounded in battle and the most noble of the garrison.”

Portia blushed, touching the crown. “I’m honored,” she said. 

Brutus smiled, seeing the crown on her, and he kissed her cheek. He was lucky to have her. He was lucky she was still alive. If anyone deserved to live, it was her.

The three soldiers sat there on the wall, looking out over the countryside as the sky turned to a deep velvet night, millions of stars above them.

“Y’know,” Cassius began, tracing a constellation with his eyes, “it’s like living in a cage. We’re inside, we live at the mercy of our owners. But I’m not gonna live in the cage anymore.” 

“Me neither,” Brutus said.

“No way,” Portia said. “Freedom or death.”

Cassius grinned. Brutus wasn’t sure if it was his sardonic, bitter smile, like the glee he had in killing titans, or if it was a smile of joy. He reached out his hand. “Then it’s decided,” he said, as Brutus and Portia took his hand. “We’re not prey anymore.”

“Humanity’s been reminded what it’s like being in a cage,” Portia said. “Time to remind it what it’s like to be free.”

 


End file.
